The Spice of Life
by xxpiratexx
Summary: “Food is an art, Alice. An art. Without proper care and treatment, food can get ugly. And ugly art is…well, ugly. Or, in this case, horrible and disgusting to eat!” A bland meal brings James Potter and Lily Evans together. R&R?


Candied Rose Petals

_The Spice of Life_

_A fic by __**xxpiratexx**_

"Alice," Lily said, discreetly spitting a mouthful of chicken into her napkin. "For the first time in five years, I…I cannot stand this meal! I mean, before, Hogwarts always had the best food, but…I find today's food incredibly…well, bland!"

"Well, yes," Alice replied, spooning some chocolate pudding into her mouth. "I did notice that."

"_Notice that_?" Lily questioned, incredulous. "You _noticed that_? How can you stand eating a flavorless meal?"

Alice shrugged. "Food is food, Lily. There are more important things in life."

Lily looked at Alice intensely. "Food is an _art_, Alice. An _art_. Without proper care and treatment, food can get _ugly_. And ugly art is…well, ugly. Or, in this case, horrible and disgusting to eat!"

Alice continued to eat her pudding, delicately scraping her bowl, if it was possible to do such a thing.

Lily turned to the rest of her friends. "Has anyone noticed that the food tastes different today?"

There were plenty of 'no's waiting to greet her question. There was, however, one yes.

"James?" she asked, dumbfounded that _he, Potter_ was capable of noticing that the food tasted off.

"Yes," said he. "It tasted sort of…bland. Like something was missing. In fact, I couldn't stomach anything! Except, of course, for the chocolate pudding."

Lily smiled, glad that someone, James Potter as that someone may be, had noticed what she had.

"I have an idea," James spoke, "Let's go to the kitchens. Right now. Let's find out what's wrong."

"The kitchens? How will we get there?" Lily said, knowing perfectly well that the Marauders had perfected the method of nicking food long ago.

"Don't worry, Lily Flower. I'll take care of that."

On their way to the kitchens (the route _cannot_ be disclosed, as poor Lily never found out herself, what with the blindfold covering her eyes until they arrived), Lily asked James a question. "How did _you_ realize the food tasted bland? Do you _cook_?"

"Well…" James' face turned slightly red. "Yeah. Just don't tell anyone, all right? It doesn't exactly fit with my…image, Marauder that I am. Why?" he asked, suddenly curious. "Do you?"

"Yeah, I do," Lily said. "I find food an art. It's really fun, cooking I mean, and…"

"Open your eyes!" James said, untying her blindfold.

"Oh, wow!" Lily gasped, looking in awe at the numbers of House Elves preparing that day's dinner.

"Right," James said, all business, addressing both Lily and the herd of house elves surrounding them, whispering, 'Master Potter, can we get you anything?'

"James and I," Lily started, smiling at the phrase, "noticed that the lunch at the Gryffindor table was rather," she winced, not wanting to hurt the eager creatures' feelings, "bland today?" she ended in a question.

The house elves tittered and whispered amongst themselves.

"Bland?" one brave house elf ventured.

"Yes, bland." James said. "As in lacking in spice."

Another house elf rushed toward them. "You liked the old meals better, then?"

James nodded. "If you mean the ones before today, then yes."

"Well today, we did modify our recipes…"

"How so?" Lily inquired.

"We…we got rid of the tarragon in the chicken recipe. We felt it was too strong." At this point, the house elf broke down, and another came to take its place.

"And in the salad, we took out the dill. We removed most green, leafy herbs."

"Why?" James asked.

"Well, students don't like herbs. They leave them on their plates and they," this house elf quivered, "they don't eat them." He finished with a whisper. "They don't like the herbs, so they don't like our cooking."

Lily looked at him solemnly. "Well, James and I have come her to tell you that students LOVE your green, leafy herbs. They're delicious! So could you please reinstate them in your cooking?"

"Right away, Miss!" the house elves chanted, ever obsequious. "You'll see them at dinner."

"Thank you." James said, nodding and leaving with two plates of chicken with tarragon.

"A job well done, don't you think?" he asked Lily, who was eating her chicken with gusto.

"Definitely," she said, kissing him softly. "We, James Potter, make an _excellent_ team."

"That we do," James said, laughing and then leaning in for another kiss. "That we do."

A/N: Sorry for the lame ending. Couldn't come up with a better one. If you have a better idea, kindly review with it?

_**My PM feature isn't working. **__****_

So yeah. Thanks for reading!

_**A meal filled with flavor for all reviewers,**_

**Rose**


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